The Knitting Fiend

My Husband’s Sweater raglan pattern has a mystery pull down menu for the “stitch multiple”. If you visited the pattern generator and played aroun, you probably and thought: “Even, odd, what?!”

Let me explain when you should pick “even”, when you should pick “odd”, and when it doesn’t matter.

Look at the picture to the left. That’s taken from a sweater I knit by machine a long, long time ago. The motif happens to be 44 stitches wide.

You’re thinking “I know; 44 is even. To center the pattern, I’d toggle an even number of stitches!”

Here’s why: If you knit the sweater, you’d probably be happiest if the point of the diamond were exactly in the center of the sweater. If you squint, you’ll notice the diamond’s point is 1 stitch wide.

If you want to center that motif on a sweater, you need an odd number of stitches across the neck. That way the point can run smack dab up the middle of the sweater.

So, if you were using my generator, you should pick “odd”, because the point is one stitch wide. You will find that most of the time odd is the best choice for fair-isle stitch motifs.

Now look to the right. The Aran stitch pattern also has a diamond motif. Notice, the point at the top of the diamond is two stitches wide. If you wanted that motif centered, you’d want the absolute center of the sweater to run between those two stitches. So, the front of the sweater would need even number of stitches.

If you choose on “even” on the stitch multiple pull down menu, the front neck of my raglan pattern will have an even number of stitches, and centering will be a snap.

Ok. Let’s apply this now: The broken rib stitch pattern on my Husband Sweater has a stitch pattern repeat of 2; but if you look carefully at the placket of my sweater, you’ll see a single rib runs up the center. You’ll also notice the ribs are symmetric around the placket. For this stitch to look symmetric around an individual rib (or ditch), the number of stitches must be odd; that’s why the default on for the generator for my Husband Sweater is “odd” not “even”.

Now, bear in mind, if you are creating complicated patterns, you will need to do a little more work to center them. Suppose, the stitch pattern you pick might be 10 stitches across and of the “even” type; the sweater may need 92 stitches to fit. Well, 9 x 10 stitches = 90 stitches. So, you can get 9 motifs in; but you have two extra stitches (92-90). Well, just slap an extra 2 stitches on the edges, placing on to either edge. The sweater will fit and you’ll be able to center your motif.

Ok, I’ll admit I picked a simple case. Here’s a non-quite-so- simple case.

The Motif has 10 stitches across; with a diamond with 1 stitch in the point. So, it’s the “odd” type; if you look at a single repeat, you’ll notice you need to pick up an extra stitch to center the diamond. Suppose the sweater has 103 stitches across. To find out how many stitches to slap on the edges calculate:
103- (9 motifs*10 stitches +1 extra stitch) = 12 stitches.

Put six (= 12/2) extra stitches on either side of the 9 full motifs (plus 1 stitch).

Did you say “wait a minute, why 9 instead of 10?” when you read the example above? Did you notice the nine is bold? Always do the calculation using an odd number of full motifs. Then put extra stitches to the side.

You’re probably still wondering: Do I always need to pick even of odd? Seems to me it doesn’t matter for stockinette. You’re right! Sometimes, it doesn’t matter at all. If the stitch pattern has no obvious “center” you can pick even or odd. It doesn’t matter; pick whichever you prefer.

Now you can center any stitch, right? I bet you’re looking at that Aran pattern and thinking of creating your own original design. You’ve probably already figured out you can calculate the shaping directions with my pattern generator, but substitute your own stitch pattern.

You clever thing you!